A Serious Man - film review

It has been ages since I wrote something on my blog so I decided to write a film review as I thought it was about time that I share my thoughts on certain movies instead of keeping them to myself.

A Serious Man (2009)

Story
The story is about Larry Gopnik's journey into self-discovery and how is going to face his marital/family and job problems with the help of some Rabbi's.  I am not going to give out much as I don't wish to ruin the whole story.

Acting & Characters of the movie.


Larry Gopnik is played by Michael Stuhlbarg.  At first I thought Jaoquin Phoenix playing Larry, but I was wrong. Stuhlbarg isn't that famous, but in my opinion he deserves to be so and to appear in more movies. I thought he was brilliant and even by simply looking at his eyes one can immediately pity the main character and end up sympathising with Larry for what is happening to him.  Apart from conveying emotions perfectly, Stuhlbarg was incredibly funny.

Arthur Gopnik is played by Richard Kind. The first time I saw Kind was in the TV series 'Scrubs', so was quiet surprised when I saw him in this movie. He did quiet a good job and personally I thought that him and Stuhlbarg complemented each other very well as brothers.

Judith Gopnik is played by Sara Lennick.  Personally I thought she was very unlikable in the way she portrayed her character, although it worked for the movie since she was the 'mean' wife who cheater on her husband.

Danny and Sarah Gopnik played by Aaron Wolff and Jessica McManus. I hated these actors to be honest.  McManus was so annoying and even sometimes her facial expressions were too over the top when the rest of the cast played their characters more realistically.  Wolff wasn't that better either, his eyes are quiet dead and expressionless during most of the movie, his best scenes were when his character was stoned and didn't talk at all.

Mrs. Samsky played by Amy Landecker.  Landecker didn't have that many lines, but personally I feel the few scenes she was in, she was brilliant especially her eyes, apart from being beautiful her eyes literally oozed sex. She was perfect for the role and wished her character had a bigger role in the movie.

Sy Ableman played by Fred Melamend.  Did a good job especially in his parts during Larry's dreams.

The Rabbis played by Simon Helberg, George Wyner and Alan Mandell (in order of appearance).  Helberg is mostly known for his role as Howard in the TV series 'The Big Bang Theory', at the beginning of his scene I thought he was a bit weak but then as the scene progressed he really amazed me at how good he was and gave such great significance to 'a parking lot' ( you will get this when you see the movie).  Wyner was quiet funny especially when he was narrating a story to Larry.  Mandell, I thought was very fitting for the role, as he gave the character an air of mystery which was very fitting for the movie.

Clive played by David Kang. I felt that Kang did an amazing job and was really funny.



Direction & Locations


This movie is directed by the famous Coen Brothers. I have seen the Coen Brothers' take on comedies such as in 'The Ladykillers' ( I really love this movie) and 'Burn After Reading'.  Unlike their other comedies and more serious films (like 'No Country for Old Men' which I couldn't understand and ruined Javier Bardem's hotness for me), I thought this comedy was more relaxed and fast paced and the comedy was more natural so to speak.
The locations used for the movie were just beautiful and so peaceful, which led to many great scenes such as when Larry is on top of his roof fixing the tv anthena thing, I thought that even such a small insignificant scene where Larry is doing one simple task one could feel something special which I am finding it hard to describe what I felt when watching that scene.
I also thought it was brilliant how they connected the ending of one scene with the beginning of another scene, which I thought it was brilliant when from one scene we hear Judith cry and then it goes to Larry talking to Rabbi Nachtner.

Soundtrack


I blame this category on Wes Anderson, since I think that to have a good movie you not only need a great cast and a story but also a great soundtrack which creates the right atmosphere for every scene and Wes Anderson always has a great soundtrack in his movies!

Now onto this movie, I love this soundtrack from the beginning till the end! Jefferson Airplane's 'Somebody to Love' was perfect to start off the movie as I felt it set the whole film's story.  Also the other music used in many scenes created the perfect atmosphere for each scene.  I also absolutely loved how the music matched perfectly when the Dentist's story was being told.  The soundtrack was not overpowering and so created the right balance for great scenes.

Who should watch this?  

Probably this movie won't be everyone's cup of tea, and to appreciate it I feel one needs a certain level of maturity to understand it's humour.  If you find Jackass Movies as funny then this probably isn't the movie for your.  If you find Justin Bieber's as meaningful then this probably isn't the movie for you either.  I don't advise this movie to young kids due to some swearing and 'smoking' and also it is advisable that when you watch this you pay attention to the dialog as the humour in this movie isn't in your face comedy, so best to pay attention.

Conclusion

It was a very good movie, but probably I wouldn't see it again.  I would categorise it as one of those movies that you would see it once and that's it.  The moral of the story, I feel, is to live your life every moment the best as you can as you don't know what might happen to you and to not to worry too much as sometimes things seem to fix by themselves. (You'll understand this in one of the last scenes where Larry is on the phone)

So my finally rating for this movie would be 4/5.

Hope you enjoyed my review, feel free to write any comments.